Last Modified: Saturday, March 16, 2013 at 12:14 a.m.

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Terrebonne General Medical Center hosted its seventh annual Ladies Night Out on Friday.

The women in attendance wore pink, drank pink drinks and danced. Attendees wore a boa with a color that indicated their own experience with breast cancer.

Light pink meant the woman had never been diagnosed. Breast-cancer survivors wore white.

While breast cancer is a serious subject that had touched the lives of everyone in the room, women were there to have fun. They were there to celebrate surviving and the friends and family who helped them get through their cancer.

Three local cancer patients, Tay Allgood, Robin Smith and Judith Landry, were made over from head to toe by local boutiques and cosmetologists.

Ladies Night Out started seven years ago with just 100 attendees to raise awareness and money for breast cancer. This year, more than 1,200 women packed the Civic Center, making it the largest cancer fundraising gala in the region, said Phyllis Peoples, TGMC president and CEO.

Proceeds from the gala will be used to help provide care and comfort items for cancer patients. The money helps pay for things for cancer survivors in need, like durable medical equipment, nutritional supplements, wigs, transportation assistance and household bills. The proceeds also provide a comfort care bag with helpful items for every patient undergoing cancer treatment at TGMC.

This year's proceeds will also go to a patient activity room that will be used for relaxing and educational activities for patients undergoing treatment at TGMC.

Last year's Ladies Night Out raised from than $60,000 for cancer patients and programs.

Rosemary Jasper of Houma said that money from the fundraiser helped pay for her husband's cancer treatments.

“I just want to say it from the heart,” she said. “Thanks to everyone here and this organization, my husband got the medicine he needs.”

In addition, 12-year-old Brooke Haydel presented TGMC officials with a check for $13,730 she raised in a raffle. Haydel has been raising money for TGMC cancer programs for the last three years in memory of her great grandmother, donating more than $32,000 for cancer programs.

Valerie Manns, an English teacher at Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma, spoke about her diagnoses with breast cancer in May 2011.

When the busy working mother first noticed the lump in her breast, she said she hoped it would go away.

“I didn't have time for cancer,” she said. “I was busy balancing my job, friends, my family and my sanity.”

In Louisiana, about 118 of every 100,000 women will develop invasive breast cancer in their lifetime.

Mann's diagnosis made her slow down and start to evaluate her life, she said. Her doctor, Dr. Raul Doria, an oncologist and medical director of the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center at TGMC, advised her that cancer doesn't mean you stop living.

She wrote the words “say yes” on a sticky note and stuck it to her desk to remind her of the important things in life.

“I started to say ‘yes' to the things that mattered and ‘no' to the things that didn't,” she said.

That included playing with her son, cuddling with her husband and going to the movies with her posse of friends.

“You have to trust the plan that God put before you and say yes to what life has to offer,” Manns said.

Staff Writer Nikki Buskey can be reached at 857-2205 or nicole.buskey@houmatoday.com.

<p>It was a party in pink Friday at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center as women gathered for one of the largest cancer fundraising galas in the region.</p><p>Terrebonne General Medical Center hosted its seventh annual Ladies Night Out on Friday.</p><p>The women in attendance wore pink, drank pink drinks and danced. Attendees wore a boa with a color that indicated their own experience with breast cancer. </p><p>Light pink meant the woman had never been diagnosed. Breast-cancer survivors wore white.</p><p>While breast cancer is a serious subject that had touched the lives of everyone in the room, women were there to have fun. They were there to celebrate surviving and the friends and family who helped them get through their cancer.</p><p>Three local cancer patients, Tay Allgood, Robin Smith and Judith Landry, were made over from head to toe by local boutiques and cosmetologists. </p><p>Ladies Night Out started seven years ago with just 100 attendees to raise awareness and money for breast cancer. This year, more than 1,200 women packed the Civic Center, making it the largest cancer fundraising gala in the region, said Phyllis Peoples, TGMC president and CEO. </p><p>Proceeds from the gala will be used to help provide care and comfort items for cancer patients. The money helps pay for things for cancer survivors in need, like durable medical equipment, nutritional supplements, wigs, transportation assistance and household bills. The proceeds also provide a comfort care bag with helpful items for every patient undergoing cancer treatment at TGMC. </p><p>This year's proceeds will also go to a patient activity room that will be used for relaxing and educational activities for patients undergoing treatment at TGMC.</p><p>Last year's Ladies Night Out raised from than $60,000 for cancer patients and programs.</p><p>Rosemary Jasper of Houma said that money from the fundraiser helped pay for her husband's cancer treatments.</p><p>“I just want to say it from the heart,” she said. “Thanks to everyone here and this organization, my husband got the medicine he needs.”</p><p>In addition, 12-year-old Brooke Haydel presented TGMC officials with a check for $13,730 she raised in a raffle. Haydel has been raising money for TGMC cancer programs for the last three years in memory of her great grandmother, donating more than $32,000 for cancer programs.</p><p>Valerie Manns, an English teacher at Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma, spoke about her diagnoses with breast cancer in May 2011.</p><p>When the busy working mother first noticed the lump in her breast, she said she hoped it would go away.</p><p>“I didn't have time for cancer,” she said. “I was busy balancing my job, friends, my family and my sanity.”</p><p>In Louisiana, about 118 of every 100,000 women will develop invasive breast cancer in their lifetime.</p><p>Mann's diagnosis made her slow down and start to evaluate her life, she said. Her doctor, Dr. Raul Doria, an oncologist and medical director of the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center at TGMC, advised her that cancer doesn't mean you stop living.</p><p>She wrote the words “say yes” on a sticky note and stuck it to her desk to remind her of the important things in life.</p><p>“I started to say 'yes' to the things that mattered and 'no' to the things that didn't,” she said. </p><p>That included playing with her son, cuddling with her husband and going to the movies with her posse of friends. </p><p>“You have to trust the plan that God put before you and say yes to what life has to offer,” Manns said.</p><p>Staff Writer Nikki Buskey can be reached at 857-2205 or nicole.buskey@houmatoday.com.</p>